Google-powered, reader-antagonistic, content-obscuring survey-ads: W-T-F?
I’ve seen something like this a few times on a dictionary website, where the text on the page has been replaced by gray boxes. There’s nothing more aggravating than looking up a word only to find the definition permanently obscured unless I interact with an ad. Merriam AND Webster must be rolling in their graves.
So you can only imagine my disappointment to find the bottom third of a local news article (that I had recently linked to) obscured in a similar manner. But what surprised me the most was to learn it was powered by Google! Really Google? Really!?
Here’s a screenshot of the survey in situ:
Hotel Wifi JavaScript Injection
So I’m checking my blog on the hotel wifi, like ya do, and I notice something a little off with the style. There’s a dark colored bar at the top of the page that shouldn’t be there. That’s funny. Maybe a recent Firefox update changed how they treat CSS?
Screenshot of Justinsomnia with weird bar circled in red
I probably wouldn’t have thought much of it, except my blog had recently been hacked (someone had gained elevated access to my web hosting account and prepended every single PHP file with a base64 encoded rootkit), so I immediately decided to view the source. Sure enough I saw some unfamiliar CSS and JavaScript that had been injected after the <head> tag (reformatted here for readability):
Ubuntu Unity: Ugh
In April, Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) shipped with a new window manager called Ubuntu Unity. I tried to like it, really I did! But it just kept getting in my way. The Launcher made it harder for me to figure out what applications were running, the Mac-esque disappearing Global Menus were painful when I had several windows side-by-side, and the Dash forced me to know in advance what program I was looking for (recall is harder than recognition). What worries me about disabling it outright is that the upcoming release of Ubuntu (Oneiric Ocelot) will apparently not offer the classic window manager at all. In the meantime, I made the following changes to have a workable and consistent environment.
Disable Ubuntu Unity
To revert to the classic look and feel, select “Ubuntu Classic” from the Session select box in the bottom panel before you enter your password to login. You’ll only need to do this once. If Ubuntu automatically logs you in, “Log Out” using the on/off button in the upper-right and follow the previous instructions.
How to avoid a new cellphone contract
Recently my 4 year-old cellphone broke in half. Thus I was faced with two choices:
- start a new two-year contract, costing more per month than my current plan, to get a basic, albeit heavily-rebated cellphone
- buy the cellphone for its full MSRP of around $160
I kind of think of these as “taxes”. Carrier lock-in on one hand, or price-gouging on the other. Both of which I wanted to avoid. The guy at the Sprint store suggested that I check around Craigslist and eBay for someone selling their old phone.
Sure enough, someone on eBay was selling a Samsung A840 for $10 + $7 shipping. It was used, yes, and there’s always a risk that someone is selling stolen phones (though I’m guessing that’s more a problem with iPhones and Blackberries), but the seller, Legacy Wireless, seemed reputable. So for a mere $17, I got a new phone (well, new to me) without having to start a new contract.
Sandal fail (or foot fail)
I’ve never been much of an open-toe footwear person. I like my socks. And I never learned how to walk in flip-flops. So it was with some anxiety that I recently decided to pick up my first pair of sandals after a visit to REI recently. I had been eyeing the Keens, but the guy there sold me on the indestructible Chacos. I ended up ordering a pair of 9 wides from Zappos because they had the color I preferred. Stephanie also picked up a pair, which I thought looked surprisingly elegant on her feet (for being so hardcore).
Well, we decided to put them to the test on what was supposed to be an eight mile hike around Tubbs Island, in the San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday. Turns out part of the trail was closed, so we didn’t make it all the way around the island, but just getting down there and back we hiked about six and a half miles. In sandals.
What were we thinking?
We spent practically the whole time talking about how the sandals felt, adjusting the straps, picking little stones out from under our feet. Even though we could have waded through the “impassable” section of trail, we were happy to have an excuse to turn back because our feet hurt so much. By the time we made it to the car, I had three blisters on one foot and two on the other. Ouch.
Not sure what we’re supposed to take away from this experience…
- Sandals are not a replacement for good hiking shoes
- My pampered feet need to gradually work up to this
- Chacos are not a good match for my feet
- Sandals are not intended for long treks
Anyway, it kind of sucks, because I thought they looked pretty sweet. For sandals.
San Francisco pickpockets, a sketch
To the thieves who stole Stephanie‘s wallet and iPhone at the CAV Wine Bar and Kitchen on Friday night around 8pm:
WE KNOW WHAT YOU LOOK LIKE
My first thought as you saddled up to the bar next us while we ate our dinner was, “Hmm odd couple”. A white woman with dark blond hair, relatively tall, in her mid to late 30s, and a short black man, in his mid to late 50s. The woman was wearing a black jacket, and the man was wearing what can only be described as an over-sized khaki “zoot suit”. But whatever, it’s San Francisco right?
What bothered me was that the woman refused to sit down. The whole time she continued standing at the bar, in front of the chair talking to the bartender about who knows what. This struck me as so out of the ordinary that I actually mentioned it to Stephanie. I don’t remember them leaving, but by the time we were waiting for dessert to arrive, Stephanie reached down to her black sling bag that she’d had on the side of the chair and noticed both zippers were open.
Well, guys, thank you for ruining our night. We hope you are enjoying the $500 worth of groceries you purchased at Safeway with her cards. We also hope you’re entertained by the $40 worth DVDs you “rented” from the kiosk in Safeway that I’m guessing you have no plan to return. And we both sincerely hope that the $700 worth of clothing you purchased at Old Navy is keeping you warm at night. Most of all we appreciate the hassle you put us through, having to cancel her cards, get a new drivers license, and spend $250-500 on a new iPhone. Thank you, really, you shouldn’t have.
If anyone stumbles upon this pair casing other restaurants around town, please call the San Francisco Police Department (553-1141) and leave a message for officer C. Leung #12281, with regard to case #091094361. Thanks.
Update: Based on advice from a few people, I threw together a PDF flyer that I’m going to have printed and pass out to some of the bars and restaurants around the 1600 block of Market. If anyone wants a copy to download and print, please feel free.
Also, big thanks to NOTCOT, SFist, Eater SF, and Spots Unknown for helping spread the word!
Update, Oct 28, 2009: In case anyone found my sketch a little hard to decipher, Andy whipped up a more “photo-realistic” rendering:
Update, Mar 4, 2010: I got the following email today from a complete stranger:
A friend of mine was also ripped off by the couple you described in your blog. The male half of the duo (I’m about 90% positive) has been hanging out with the other crackheads for the last 24 hours in front of [Dalva on 16th street]. Little black dude sunken cheeks wearing a big yellowish zuit suitish outfit. He’s was wearing a gold 49ers jacket over it last I saw him.
Introducing Boing Boing Classic
This is what I believe. Design should be evolutionary, not revolutionary. Design should strive for simplicity and spurn complexity. Design should innovate, not emulate. Most importantly, design mistakes—that initial naivete of any fledging project—may eventually become its brand. Remember to embrace it! Look at Google. Craigslist. Coca Cola Classic.
With that in mind it was kind of shocking to see how Boing Boing, my favorite blog, redesigned their site this past week. They changed the logo (a throwback to the original print zine), they threw article callout boxes all over the place, they increased the font size, and they extended the homepage with unskimmable headline links. It seems, overall, they made a lot of design decisions that emulate the dying print world. I mean, c’mon, a masthead, really?
It’s not hard to explain my attachment to Boing Boing. For starters, it’s the only blog I still check directly, instead of plugging it into my feedreader. I probably go there multiple times a day, and just skim until I get down to posts I’ve already read. It was the first place I learned about Federated Media, a year before I started working there. It’s not because of the design (or legendary lack thereof) that I behave this way, I read it for the Boingers’ consistently stellar content and wit.
I decided I had to do something. I wanted my old Boing Boing back. I wanted Jackhammer Jill. I wanted a Boing Boing that was more Boing Boing than Boing Boing. One that Mark, Cory, Xeni, and David would be proud of. Boing Boing Classic. It was really that simple. So I registered boingboingclassic.net, grabbed the old layout and stylesheets from the Internet Archive, wrote a simple little feedparser+html generator, and voila. I give you:
Boing Boing Classic. Enjoy.
Update, Oct 12, 2009: I’ve stopped updating Boing Boing Classic so that my personal design criticism is not misconstrued by anyone as representing the opinions or attitudes of Federated Media, my employer and Boing Boing’s advertising partner.
AIG wants YOU to stop insurance fraud!
Straight outta the department of painful irony. Somehow this is still hanging at work. I’ve been tempted to tear it down.
The laughable poster text reads:
Stop insurance fraud because the real crime is that honest customers pay for it.
According to the General Accounting Office, insurance fraud costs American consumers over 100 billion dollars each year. Unfortunately, most of these costs are met by increases in premiums for honest customers. The AIG Fraud Investigation Division of American International Companies is an industry leader in fighting these costly crimes. We are helping ensure that those responsible are referred for criminal prosecution and civil action. Help us eradicate insurance fraud, and we will pay up to $50,000 reward if you help us catch em for information that leads to the arrest, prosecution, and conviction of anyone committing insurance fraud. Remember, it’s honest customers like you who end up paying for insurance fraud, so we’ve all got something to gain by preventing it. Please help us catch em, the people who are driving your insurance costs up.
1-866-CATCH-EM
1-866-228-2436
